07-30-2004, 12:57 AM
The Bush administration proposed imposing tariffs on shrimp imports from four of the largest shrimp-producing nations in Asia and South America.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday that exporters from Brazil, Ecuador, <span style='color:red'>India </span>and Thailand have dumped canned and frozen warm water shrimp on the U.S. market at artificially low prices, hurting domestic producers.
The proposed duties were considerably smaller than what the petitioners â Southern shrimpers and processors â had sought. They varied from country to country based on each country's sales and production prices.
Brazilian exporters faced the stiffest duties, ranging up to 68 percent. The government proposed duties of between 4 percent and 27 percent for Indian exporters; between 6 percent and 10 percent for Thai exporters and between 6 percent and 9 percent for Ecuadorian businesses.
Petitioners had sought duties ranging up to 349 percent for Brazil and between 57 percent and 166 percent for the other three countries.
Opponents of tariffs say duties could drive shrimp prices up and do little to uplift a domestic industry unable to supply the country's demand for shrimp.
Although the ruling was preliminary, it will likely stand. The Commerce Department (news - web sites) will make a final decision by the end of the year and the U.S. International Trade Commission will decide in February if imports have damaged the domestic industry, a finding it has already issued in a preliminary ruling.
The ruling, released in Washington as a result of petitions by shrimpers in Louisiana and other coastal states, came three weeks after the U.S. Department of Commerce proposed tariffs on China and Vietnam. In all, the six countries provide about 75 percent of the shrimp Americans eat.
Southern shrimpers and processors filed the antidumping petition in December, alleging that their industry was on the brink of destruction because of a flood of cheap shrimp.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state group that paid for the trade action, has said dumping cut the value of the U.S. harvest by more than half between 2000 and 2002, from $1.25 billion to $560 million.
Exporters and importers deny the charges and accuse the Bush administration of protectionism. They argue that booming U.S. demand for shrimp and a flowering shrimp farming industry are behind the rise in imports â not dumping.
But Southern shrimpers say the problem started in 2001 when Europe and Japan began blocking imports of farm-raised shrimp because of concerns of unhealthy levels of antibiotics. Also, shrimpers charge that shrimp farming has exploded only because of subsidies by the World Bank (news - web sites) and national governments.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said Thursday that exporters from Brazil, Ecuador, <span style='color:red'>India </span>and Thailand have dumped canned and frozen warm water shrimp on the U.S. market at artificially low prices, hurting domestic producers.
The proposed duties were considerably smaller than what the petitioners â Southern shrimpers and processors â had sought. They varied from country to country based on each country's sales and production prices.
Brazilian exporters faced the stiffest duties, ranging up to 68 percent. The government proposed duties of between 4 percent and 27 percent for Indian exporters; between 6 percent and 10 percent for Thai exporters and between 6 percent and 9 percent for Ecuadorian businesses.
Petitioners had sought duties ranging up to 349 percent for Brazil and between 57 percent and 166 percent for the other three countries.
Opponents of tariffs say duties could drive shrimp prices up and do little to uplift a domestic industry unable to supply the country's demand for shrimp.
Although the ruling was preliminary, it will likely stand. The Commerce Department (news - web sites) will make a final decision by the end of the year and the U.S. International Trade Commission will decide in February if imports have damaged the domestic industry, a finding it has already issued in a preliminary ruling.
The ruling, released in Washington as a result of petitions by shrimpers in Louisiana and other coastal states, came three weeks after the U.S. Department of Commerce proposed tariffs on China and Vietnam. In all, the six countries provide about 75 percent of the shrimp Americans eat.
Southern shrimpers and processors filed the antidumping petition in December, alleging that their industry was on the brink of destruction because of a flood of cheap shrimp.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state group that paid for the trade action, has said dumping cut the value of the U.S. harvest by more than half between 2000 and 2002, from $1.25 billion to $560 million.
Exporters and importers deny the charges and accuse the Bush administration of protectionism. They argue that booming U.S. demand for shrimp and a flowering shrimp farming industry are behind the rise in imports â not dumping.
But Southern shrimpers say the problem started in 2001 when Europe and Japan began blocking imports of farm-raised shrimp because of concerns of unhealthy levels of antibiotics. Also, shrimpers charge that shrimp farming has exploded only because of subsidies by the World Bank (news - web sites) and national governments.